Study Abroad Series: 17 Earthquake

From what I learned in high school, there were 6 tectonic plates in the world. When the plate boundaries moved, there was chance of an earthquake occurring. I had heard the news about the earthquake in Japan, New Zealand, and Haiti, but I had never experienced an earthquake even once.

One day in January, while having lunch at mensa, I heard my friends talking about the earthquake last night. They felt it, but they were not sure if it was an earthquake. I got confused because last night I slept well and did not feel anything. Umm…And I was surprised since I was born I had never heard about the earthquake in Italy.

Two days later, the earthquake occurred. This time, I could feel it. I was reading at the table in my room, the table, chair and shelf shook slightly. I was a little bit excited because it was my first time experience earthquake.

Four months later, I forgot about the earthquake. One night while I was sleeping, I felt the bed shook and moved. I was not panic, but I complained my roommate; I thought she was doing something at night. Then, I continued to sleep. In the morning, I checked Facebook, and I realized that my roommate did not do anything; there was an earthquake last night. This one was more powerful than the others on January. Most of my friends woke up and were about to run out of the building.

The latter earthquake occurred in Emilia-Romagna region, a region of Northern Italy about 36 kilometres north of Bologna. It was the most powerful one. People were killed. And there were aftershocks after the main one.

The topic about earthquake came back. We again talked about this at mensa. I felt that my friends knew the tips to stay safe, while I was not aware of it.

During that time, I always checked the news related to the earthquake, and I just realized that there was a website that reported the earthquakes from around the world. And, from the website the earthquakes happened everyday! I immediately understood why we had to learn how to stay safe in natural disasters which could happen any time.

During those days, I told my roommate…If there is an earthquake and she decides to go out, please wake me up!